Thinking of You...

Every so often when I can't think of anything to write on my blog, my inner nerd kicks in and  I check the "site stats". They are pretty unimpressive, I mean once you take out all of times I visit the page in a given day. But the stat that I've looked at every week for the past month isn't how many times someone has visited the site or voted on the Tripper Picture of the Month Page (which if you haven't done already please do so) but it's been how many times "someone" in Australia have been visiting the site.

I've really enjoyed the e-mail updates I've been getting from my friend Emily and it makes me smile to know she is thinking of me too. But this weekend in particular, while Tarra was taking the McCormick's family picture and I was surrounded by my pups and Mike, I was again reminded of Emily and her unbelievable journey in Australia.

It is easy to forget the weight of the world when you eat, sleep, work and live at a school. Between the beautiful surroundings and small town feel, Salisbury can often feel like a different place all together.

Though the reality of the world is not often seen on the Hilltop, it doesn't mean that it doesn't touch us everyday. And though we are worlds apart my heart reaches out to you.

VB Family...our love, thoughts and prayers are with you.

Worst Blogger Ever

The title speaks for itself. I'm seemingly the worst blogger ever. I've been doing a great job keeping up with taking millions of pictures (so much so that I'm now asking for a new camera from Mike...I mean Santa).

I can't even begin to remember all of the stories that I have already forgotten to write down. So much seems to happen everyday. He's growing like a weed now, almost as tall and as heavy as Rocky (he was 38 lbs yesterday).

He is starting to loose his puppy fluff and is really beginning to look like a man. Last Saturday his right ear stood up and hasn't come down since. Now he just looks really goofy...one ear up, a black strip down his back and a big nose. One of the Mom's over Parent's Weekend said he looked like an adolescent boy, growing nose first...she said he reminded her of her son.

Tripper and Rocky have been getting along much better. Now that he can run, they've been chasing each other around the backyard. Rocky isn't being quite as mean...but she has started to really enjoy his meals. After he's finished eating she has been pinning him down to lick his face clean of meat. At first I thought it was hysterical...but then Tripper tried to get up and Rocky bit him. That was the end of that.

Other than that I have no new stories. The boys have been doing such a great job working with him and all of the other campus dogs. I'm really excited for when they can bring him with them to class...it will be so good for him and the boys.

Even though I could blame my lack of blogging on updating the Web site, working on the yearbook, getting ready for Parents Weekend or just editing all of the pictures I take... I'll blame the Phillies for making it to post season and therefore forcing our family to watch baseball every night. Even though I don't really care for baseball...I'm not very good at doing two things at once, thus the lack of blogging.

In between commercials right now Mike and I are trying to remember our favorite Tripper memories...here are our recent Top 5.

1. After spending an entire day watching Ashley dominate at lacrosse...we begged Tripper to let us sleep in (we haven't slept past 6:30 since we got him). We didn't wake up the next morning until 9...it was a Fall Break miracle.
2. Tripper meeting Mike's family for the first time. Everyone loved him...but his parents did ask us when we were going to stop getting dogs and start having babies. (I think Jayme would agree)
3. Tripper getting to play with a golden retriever puppy and black lab puppy. He was bigger than both of them even though they were 6 months old.
4. I need to get a video of this but when I hand feed him...he sits up on his hind legs like Casey does. It's really cute.
5. Having Casey and Tripper lay on top of each other in the bathroom. It's even cuter because Casey doesn't let Rocky snuggle EVER but Tripper gets to do what he wants because she knows he is special.

day 66

ps...Danielle and Mandy thanks for reading my blog!!!

Sunday Funday

Sunday was a great day (especially for a Ravens fan!!). In between football games Tarra, Mike, Casey Rocky, Maya and of course Tripper all went on a walk to the lost field.

It's been pretty amazing to watch Tripper grow up, both in size, intelligence and personality. He's really becoming a doggie. Even the boys who see him everyday at soccer say that he's growing every day.

And to round out our weekend, we had a fire. It was Tripper's first time and he did pretty well. Rocky had to bite him a couple of times for getting too close, but other wise he kept his distance. Although I do think he was pretty confused of why sticks were allowed in the house and why he wasn't allowed to play them, but such is life.

Single Parenting

As you know I've been husband-less for the past couple of days (sad face). Mike has been getting up at 6 (and therefore so do the dogs) and not getting home until 10 (right when I want to go to bed). And with Tripper only being 10 weeks old he still needs to be let out a bunch during the day and still has a ton of energy...obvi. The luxury of working and living at the same place is that it hasn't been a huge deal for me to come home throughout the day and let the little bugger out.

 Since Tripper has had so much box time (box = cage but is more fun to say) he has been a crazy man the rest of the day. Even Casey gets tired of his energy...last night she put herself to bed at 8:00. I guess we're all tired, except for the monster.

To help release some of his energy I pack Tripper's travel bag,  complete with treats, leashes, balls, bones, dog bowl and water, and head down to football practice to visit with Mike. Though it may sound like I packed for a weekend get away, I've learned that I'd rather be safe than sorry.

While Casey and Rocky play fetch it is a constant struggle to entertain Tripper. Sometimes I can get him to chase a ball, chew on a bone or even play soccer with me. But with an endless amount of distractions such as boys walking by, football whistles or even a bug, keeping a 10 week old puppies attention is impossible. Thankfully both Casey and Rocky take turns keeping him entertained.

No that wasn't a typo...I think Rocky has turned the corner. I mean don't get me wrong Tripper is not allowed anywhere near our bed or Rocky's food bowl among other places but when we are outside...it's a different story. They run around together, play tug with sticks and even when Tripper bites her she does nothing. Inside she still tends to leave him alone but I'll take the small victory.

And yes he loves getting a lot of attention from all the boys.

My theory on why Tripper all of a sudden has all of this energy has very little to do with the fact that he's 10 weeks old but more to do with the fact that as I'm typing this entry I'm sipping hot cocoa wearing sweatpants, a sweat shirt and my ugg slippers. It seems as though Connecticut uses the unofficial end of summer (Labor Day Weekend) as the official end of warm weather. And since Tripper was always hot (I guess if I was wearing a big puffy coat I'd be that hot too) he was too hot to play. Now that it's barely reaching 70 degrees in the middle of the day, he's cool and hyper. Great... can't wait for winter.

Day 25

Preseason

Today was the first day that students came back to campus. All morning Mike helped the boys move into the dorm while I helped give parents three out of the 59 pieces of paper they needed to check their son's into school.

For the remainder of the week I'll  pretty much be husband-less as Mike will be waking up at the crack of dawn and not returning until after my bed time :(

On the bright side, even with only a couple of hours of the boys being back on campus Tripper has created quite a buzz.  I knew he'd gain some attention right away...what puppy doesn't, but there seems to be a good amount of boys excited by the thought of learning how to train a puppy and being able to take him to class. On Sunday while the rest of the students go through registration I'm going to bring Tripper with me so everyone can meet him and start building some excitement (even if it's just with the parents)

But until then I'm going to try to be extra on-top of the blog, taking pictures and video but most importantly I'm really going to focus on all of the dogs' training. Easier said than done when this will also be my first week back in the office every day. It looks like there will be a lot of box time for Tripper :(

Day 23

Too Long...

So get ready for the longest post yet. I've been the worst blogger over the last week and haven't updated anything. But don't worry...I'm still taking lots of pictures, just slacking on posting them.

While I was away in Saratoga over the weekend, spending some much needed time with my gf's from UConn (and wishing Tori farewell on her move to Florida) Mike was 100% in charge of Tripper's training program. Let me take a second and mention that the last time that Mike was in charge of one of our dogs training, Casey learned how to drool on command...a trick she still displays anytime you eat peanut butter or pretzels!

But before I left I reminded him that he needed to be on his best foster parent behavior and made sure to tell Casey to keep an extra close eye on Tripper while I was away.

Obviously when I got home everything was just how I left it. Except that I would swear that Tripper doubled in size in 48 hours.

So we picked up where we left off in our training and since have been focusing on learning the names of commands (instead of using a lore or treat) and the beginning stages of stay...not the easiest thing for a 9 week old puppy. But he's slowly getting it.

Now that all the faculty are arriving back on campus (sports start next week with school starting the following) there are a bunch of kids running and riding their bikes around campus. This was a great opportunity for Trip to get use to the sights and sounds that come with kids. In the picture above two of the girls who live on campus (Emma and Cate) stopped by for a quick visit. I'm happy to report that not only was Tripper really good with them but when he did start to put his teeth out the girls did a nice job of correcting him and he stopped. I was pretty proud.

I'm sure you've been wondering if Rocky has stopped being a biatch...the short answer would be no. But the longer answer (which I'm obviously sharing) would be yes, much better. So using the  following pictures and descriptions I'll try to explain their relationship as best as humanly possible...and if I do say so myself I think I have captured it beautifully!!

Rocky- "OMG look how close that dog is getting to me. Doesn't he know I don't like him."
Tripper-"Look at me...I have a rope!

Rocky- "ooohhh Rope! I like rope."
Tripper-"If I share my rope will you be my friend?

Rocky-"Yeah sure, whatever now give me my rope!"

Tripper- "Moooom, Rocky stole my toy, I'm going to go take it back!"

Rocky- "Back the f-up!"
Tripper- "But I thought we were friends"
Rocky- "NEVER!!"

So needless to say, we're still working on the whole Rocky thing. But the happy puppy is doing great and is as cute as ever!!

Tomorrow's a big day for the family...we're going to Tripper's first training class! He'll get to play with his brother's and sister's and we'll get to see what everyone looks like!! It'll be fun to see how he shapes up next to everyone.

day 18